76 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Corn-Bunting. Emberiza calandra Linn. 



The Corn-Bunting (Plate 33) is a locally abundant resident in 

 Britain. Abroad it occurs throughout central and southern 

 Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. Many of our birds 

 leave us in autumn and return in spring, and our winter flocks 

 receive accessions from the Continent. 



Largest and least showy of its group, the so-called Common 

 Bunting is by no means the most frequently met with, for it is 

 absent from woodlands and is only found in the open and usually 

 cultivated country ; where it does occur it is abundant. Apart 

 from its angled bill, a generic character, the bird is incon- 

 spicuous in its sombre dress, but noticeable by its habits and 

 song. It delights in singing from a perch ; this may be a hedge, 

 tree or bush, but a tall weed in the centre of a field suffices ; 

 along the high roads it uses the telegraph wires, and in 

 Wales sings from stone walls. I have seen it crouching on a wall, 

 singing vigorously. The song is repeated every few seconds, a 

 monotonous jingle, which, after two or three preliminary notes, 

 " chi, chi, chi," resembles, as Mr. Aplin happily points out, the 

 sound of a bunch of keys vigorously shaken. When approached 

 it flies with heavy flight for a few yards, its legs dangling 

 loosely, and settles again to sing. It sings early and late in the 

 season ; I have notes of birds beginning the spring song in 

 December, and of others still jingling in October. The call- 

 note is a loud " chuk," but difficult to express by any combina- 

 tion of letters. In winter it flocks and roams, and many areas 

 are deserted through migration. I have seen a flock of 

 immigrants arriving early in May, though residents were singing 

 everywhere ; they were probably birds of passage. Grain and 

 seeds are eaten in winter, but insects are devoured in spring and 

 summer. 



Although the male advertises the existence of a nest in his 



